Encyclopedia Dramatica (ED), launched December 10, 2004 by Sherrod DeGrippo, [1] was an open wiki often associated with 4chan and Anonymous that profanely catalogued the dark underbelly of Internet culture. Entries on ED were often brash, politically incorrect and offensive, and they often glorified the misogynic, racist, homophobic and anti-everything-ist. Internet raids, memes, trolls, characters and subcultures were all documented on ED.
On January 23, 2011, Encyclopedia Dramatica's Twitter and Facebook read “RIP,” and the Internet was buzzing over the news that ED was no more, as the site seemed to be defunct. However, according to Gawker, DeGrippo claimed that the news of the site suspension came as a shock to her too. DeGrippo explained that “ED isn't dead – it was just down briefly because of a technical error.” She also claimed that, since 30 people have access to the official ED Twitter, the tweet was just a jest because “ED people are all about reaction, being provocative, etc.” She even said, “I feel like someone is trolling ME.” [2] After that, the site was back up, but that was back in January.
Without warning, on April 16, 2011, visitors to ED's homepage found themselves redirected to a new site called OhInternet, which claims to be a tamed down, “sanitized” and friendlier version of ED. This time, DeGrippo says that the site change was intentional, and that “shock for shock’s sake is old at this point and we’re looking forward to the future and how things are evolving." [3] In an email exchange with Gawker, DeGrippo listed these reasons for the official change:
Implementation of Semantic mediawiki, the best thing to ever happen to wikis. An amazing technology that allow for easier editing and querying. This is the kind of data that needs to be easily organized and queried. It also needs to be a piece of cake to add information quickly and easily. Semantic mediawiki does that. I am excited and I love it
There had previously been no upgrades, no redesigns and no changes in seven years. Sites that don't change, become irrelevant. There are tons of examples. I would like to discuss them with [Gawker founder] Nick Denton. We will sit back and talk about those inscrutable users and their dislike for redesigns.
I think generally SFW is a good way to go. Having a site that is blocked by so many office and school filters is frustrating to work on.
There are also rumors that say that OhInternet was started up to compete with Know Your Meme, a more SFW meme-cataloging site which had recently been purchased by Cheezburger Network for a seven-figure price back in March. [5] DeGrippo denies these claims, saying that OhInternet had been in the works before the KYM/Cheezburger exchange. [4]
Overview
Encyclopedia Dramatica (ED), launched December 10, 2004 by Sherrod DeGrippo, [1] was an open wiki often associated with 4chan and Anonymous that profanely catalogued the dark underbelly of Internet culture. Entries on ED were often brash, politically incorrect and offensive, and they often glorified the misogynic, racist, homophobic and anti-everything-ist. Internet raids, memes, trolls, characters and subcultures were all documented on ED.
On January 23, 2011, Encyclopedia Dramatica's Twitter and Facebook read “RIP,” and the Internet was buzzing over the news that ED was no more, as the site seemed to be defunct. However, according to Gawker, DeGrippo claimed that the news of the site suspension came as a shock to her too. DeGrippo explained that “ED isn't dead – it was just down briefly because of a technical error.” She also claimed that, since 30 people have access to the official ED Twitter, the tweet was just a jest because “ED people are all about reaction, being provocative, etc.” She even said, “I feel like someone is trolling ME.” [2] After that, the site was back up, but that was back in January.
Without warning, on April 16, 2011, visitors to ED's homepage found themselves redirected to a new site called OhInternet, which claims to be a tamed down, “sanitized” and friendlier version of ED. This time, DeGrippo says that the site change was intentional, and that “shock for shock’s sake is old at this point and we’re looking forward to the future and how things are evolving." [3] In an email exchange with Gawker, DeGrippo listed these reasons for the official change:
- Implementation of Semantic mediawiki, the best thing to ever happen to wikis. An amazing technology that allow for easier editing and querying. This is the kind of data that needs to be easily organized and queried. It also needs to be a piece of cake to add information quickly and easily. Semantic mediawiki does that. I am excited and I love it
- There had previously been no upgrades, no redesigns and no changes in seven years. Sites that don't change, become irrelevant. There are tons of examples. I would like to discuss them with [Gawker founder] Nick Denton. We will sit back and talk about those inscrutable users and their dislike for redesigns.
- I think generally SFW is a good way to go. Having a site that is blocked by so many office and school filters is frustrating to work on.
- That domain name was way too long. Good god. [4]
There are also rumors that say that OhInternet was started up to compete with Know Your Meme, a more SFW meme-cataloging site which had recently been purchased by Cheezburger Network for a seven-figure price back in March. [5] DeGrippo denies these claims, saying that OhInternet had been in the works before the KYM/Cheezburger exchange. [4]Somehow, the Internet feels less Internety.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclopedia_Dramatica
[2] http://gawker.com/#!5741193/the-drama-with-encyclopedia-dramatica
[3] http://www.inquisitr.com/104161/encyclopedia-dramatica-gone-for-good/
[4] http://gawker.com/#!5792738/what-happened-to-encyclopedia-dramatica
[5] http://www.geekosystem.com/cheezburger-buys-know-your-meme/
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